1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a surgical stapler, and more particularly, to a surgical stapler having a tactile feedback system.
2. Background of Related Art
A variety of different types of surgical instruments have been developed for manipulating, identifying, treating, repairing and/or excising tissue including organs or portions thereof located within body cavities for performing minimally invasive procedures. In such procedures, a surgical stapler is inserted through an incision, cannula, or natural orifice to a surgical site where a surgical procedure is to take place.
One type of surgical stapler often utilized in laparoscopic procedures is an endoscopic stapling instrument having a pair of jaws, one of which is pivotable with respect to the other to clamp tissue therebetween. After clamping of the tissue, the firing trigger is actuated to apply rows of staples to the tissue. Examples of such instruments are disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,762,256 and 5,865,361. Optionally, a knife is actuated with the staple firing to sever tissue between the rows of staples. During open surgical procedures, the surgeon cannot only visualize the tissue but can feel the tissue with his or her fingers and assess the pressure/clamping of the tissue. With endoscopic staplers, the jaws are positioned in the body cavity and the handle gripped by the user is outside the body. Although the surgeon can view the tissue on the video monitor, the surgeon does not have access with his or her fingers to the clamped tissue within the body cavity.
Therefore, in the absence of direct manual access, it would be advantageous to provide an endoscopic/laparoscopic stapling instrument that enhances the surgeon's ability to “sense” the tissue.